UM, Harvard to partner on Detroit poverty study, opioid crisis

Harvard's Equality of Opportunity Project and UM's Poverty Solutions initiative will team up on a research project examining poverty

Universities also will convene two major policy summits in Southeast Michigan and Massachusetts on the opioid crisis

Announcement comes as Harvard president is to speak at Detroit Homecoming

University of Michigan; Harvard University

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel (left) and Harvard University President Larry Bacow (right) will both speak Friday at Detroit Homecoming about their individual schools' engagement with Detroit. Bacow is a native of Pontiac.

The University of Michigan and Harvard University are partnering on two initiatives focused on improving economic mobility in Detroit and tackling the nation's opioid drug addiction crisis through the creation of a "think-and-practice tank."

Harvard's Equality of Opportunity Project and UM's Poverty Solutions initiative will team on a research project examining poverty in Detroit that UM started last year. That initiative is known as the Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility.

The universities also will convene two major policy summits in Southeast Michigan and Massachusetts on the opioid crisis for physicians, public health experts and criminal justice and public policy experts to use for the foundation of a broader research project or public policy responses to the epidemic, UM President Mark Schlissel said.

"That's the idea of convening these things is to get people in a room together to share their ideas — and out of those ideas are likely to come recommendations of what we should do now," Schlissel said in an interview.

The policy summits will help establish a "think-and-practice tank" for combating the opioid epidemic through best-practices for prescribing and monitoring the administration of powerful narcotics, access to addiction treatment and criminal justice measures, Schlissel said.

The UM-Harvard partnership will be announced as the fifth annual Detroit Homecoming event gears up this week.

Bacow and Schlissel are scheduled to speak Friday at Detroit Homecoming, an annual gathering of former Detroiters that is produced by Crain's Detroit Business.

Schlissel said he and Bacow had been looking for ways their institutions could partner on research and examining major public policy issues.

In an agreement with the city of Detroit, UM previously pledged to spend $500,000 over four years on the Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility.

"I'm sure that the collaboration, that now will involve Harvard, will bring different or other resources to the table," Schlissel said.

H. Luke Shaefer, director of UM's Poverty Solutions initiative, will work with Harvard economist Raj Chetty for the research focused on low-income Detroiters.

UM Associate Professor of Anesthesiology Chad Brummett, co-director of the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network, will lead the university's role in the opioid partnership with Harvard.